1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc medium, an optical disc recording apparatus, and a control method of the same, and especially relates to a write once type optical disc medium, an optical disc recording apparatus to record and reproduce data in the optical disc medium and a control method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first conventional example of a write once optical disc medium and a second conventional example of a conventional optical disc apparatus are disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2000-504463A) and U.S. Pat. No. (5,701,281). According to the first conventional example, a writing apparatus writes a data block in a track pattern on a writable record medium. This writing apparatus has a writing unit and a positioning section. The writing unit writes a mark indicating the data block in an area of the record carrier through the electromagnetic radiation beam. The positioning section positions the writing unit on the record carrier based on the track structure showing the track pattern. The writing apparatus also has a status section to generate a status data, which indicates that a write operation is carried out in at least one area of the record carrier. This status data extends from a start position of the track pattern area for the data block to be written, and has an initial area data showing an initial area into which data is written without any interruption.
According to the second conventional example, an optical disc apparatus uses an optical disc that has a zone border unused area and a buffer area as an unused area, and a test area in each user band of a user area. The optical disc apparatus includes a SCSI controller, a head, a control unit, a control parameter data edit unit, a random-access memory, a control parameter writing unit, and a control parameter reading unit. The SCSI controller is connected with a host apparatus and exchanges data with the host apparatus. The head writes or reads the data into or from an optical disc. The control unit controls the writing and reading operations of the data and controls an entire operation of the optical disc apparatus. The control parameter data edit unit edits a control parameter data to have a predetermined format. The random-access memory stores the control parameter data edited by the control parameter data edit unit. The control parameter writing unit writes the control parameter data stored in the random-access memory in an unused area of the optical disc through the head, when the optical disc is pulled out from the optical disc apparatus. The control parameter reading unit reads the control parameter data written in the unused area of the optical disc through the head, when the optical disc is inserted in the optical disc apparatus.
As shown FIG. 3, an optical disc recording system includes a host apparatus 1, an optical disc recording apparatus 2, and an optical disc medium 3. The host apparatus 1 is exemplified by a personal computer (PC). In built-in devices such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorders, the host apparatus 1 is equivalent to a dominant system to control an entire system. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records data in the optical disc medium 3 such as the DVD-R medium under an instruction from the host apparatus 1.
The specification for exchange of a command and a status between the host apparatus 1 and the optical disc apparatus 2 is described in ANSI T10/1545-D: “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY—Multi-Media Commands-4 (MMC-4)” as a third conventional example. The host apparatus 1 exchanges the command and status with the optical disc recording apparatus 2 by using a packet command shown in the third conventional example. In the present invention, the description is given by using the following MMC-4 commands defined in the third conventional example.
(1) A Read (10) command is a command used to read a data from the optical disc recording apparatus 2 for the specified number of sectors from a certain logical address.
(2) A Write (10) command or the a Write (12) command is a command used to read a data from the optical disc recording apparatus 2 for a specified number of sectors from a certain logical address.
(3) A Synchronize Cache command is a command used to make the optical disc recording apparatus 2 to data stored in a write buffer memory of the recording apparatus 2 into the optical disc medium 3.
(4) A Read Disc Information command is a command used to acquire the number of tracks or sessions of the optical disc medium 3, a flag indicating whether the optical disc medium 3 is erasable, and a record status of the optical disc medium 3.
(5) A Read Track Information command is a command used to acquire a start logical address of a certain track or session of the optical disc medium 3, a next writable logical address, and status of tracks and sessions.
(6) A Reserve Track command is a command used to reserve a logical address area containing a certain quantity of sectors as a track.
(7) A Close Track command is a command used to bury all the writable logical address areas of a certain track with dummy data.
(8) A Read DVD Structure command and A Send DVD Structure command are commands used to read and set data arranged in a system area, which cannot be accessed through the Read (10) and the Write (10) command.
(9) A Request Sense command is a command issued for the host apparatus to acquire the status of the optical disc recording apparatus. This command is issued when the optical disc recording apparatus completes a command, and when the optical disc recording apparatus transmits data to be notified to the host apparatus when the status in the optical disc recording apparatus is changed.
As a large capacity of optical disc medium of the write once type, the DVD-R standard is known which is shown in ISO/IEC 20563 “80 nm (1.23 Gbytes per side) and 120 nm (3.95 Gbytes per side)-recordable disc”,
FIG. 1 shows a physical data arrangement of the DVD-R medium. The optical disc medium 3 has a control data record area 130, a lead-in area 131, a data area 138, and a lead-out area 139 in the order from the inner side. The control data record area 130 and the lead-in area 131 are referred to as a system area, in which data to control the optical disc medium 3 is recorded. Therefore, the system area is controlled so that the host apparatus 1 cannot access directly. The control data record area 130 is an area where data for record management on a recording operation of data in the data area is recorded. The data for the record management is referred to as a record status management data. The data area 138 is an area of the optical disc medium 3 where user data is recorded. The lead-out area 139 indicates an end of the record area of the optical disc medium 3.
These areas are managed every sector of 2048 bytes to which a series of numbers (addresses) is given. Referring to FIG. 1 “h” is put on the end of the address so that the address of each area is described in a hexadecimal notation. The optical disc medium 3 is initialized by the optical disc recording apparatus 2 prior to a data record operation. Through the initialization, the control data record area 130 and the lead-in area 131 are arranged in the area up to the physical address 30000h, and the data area is arranged from the physical address 30000h. In order to prevent the host apparatus from accessing this area up to the physical address 30000h, the physical address 30000h is defined as a logical address 0h normally. Also, the host apparatus 1 accesses the optical disc medium 3 by using the logical address. Therefore, the host apparatus 1 cannot access the system area arranged inside the data area 138. However, the commands such as a Read Disc Information command, a Read DVD Structure command, and a Send DVD Structure command are prepared so that the host apparatus can use a part of these data. Such the command is provided in the ANSI MMC-4 standard described in the third conventional example.
The logical addresses on the record of data in the write-once optical disc should be consecutive due to the constraint of a consecutive record. Therefore, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 manages the data area by dividing the data area into small areas refereed to as a logical track. Then, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 consecutively record the data in the logical track. Thus, the constraint of the consecutive record is met. In the DVD-R medium, it is ruled that maximum three logical tracks can be managed at a same time. The logical tracks are respectively referred to as a first track, a second track, and an invisible track. The invisible track is a logical track on the outermost side of the disc and an end area of the invisible track is not determined.
These logical tracks are areas obtained by separating a logical address space of the data area 138 in the optical disc medium 3 to which the host apparatus 1 can access. Therefore, these logical tracks are different from a physical track configured from a guide groove of the optical disc medium 3 for an optical head and recorded pit strings. In the present invention, the record of the user data and the record status management data is managed by controlling the logical track. Therefore, the logical track is simply referred to as a track in the following description. Moreover, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 can generate a plurality of logical volumes, as virtual disc spaces, on the write-once optical disc 3. Then, each of the logical volumes can be managed as a session.
A recording operation in the DVD-R medium with DVD-Video format will be described below, as an example of using three logical tracks of the DVD-R medium.
First, a file configuration of the DVD-Video will be described. In the DVD-Video, a file system data, a video manager file group, a single or plural video title file groups are arranged in ascending order of the logical address of the optical disc medium. The video manager file group is configured of three files of a video manager data file, a video manager object file and a video manager data backup file. The video manager object file may be omitted. Each video title file group is configured of a video title data file, a video title object file, and a video title data backup file.
Referring to FIG. 2, the ANSI MMC-4 commands exchanged between the host apparatus 1 and the optical disc recording apparatus 2 and operations started based on the commands will be described.
1. When an unused optical disc medium 3 is inserted into the optical disc recording apparatus 2, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 determines a physical media type and initializes the optical disc medium 3. Thus, a system area including a first control data record area and a data area are set in the optical disc medium 3, and necessary physics and logical data are recorded in the system area.
2. The host apparatus 1 issues the Reserve Track command to reserve a track where the file system and the video manager data file are recorded. Receiving the Reserve Track command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 reserves an area for the number of reservation sectors defined by an argument of the Reserve Track command as one track, and then updates the record status control data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
3. Subsequently, the host apparatus 1 issues the Reserve Track command to reserve the record area for the video title data file. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 reserves an area for the number of the sectors specified based on the Reserve Track command as a second track. Then, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 updates the record status control data and records it in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
4. The host apparatus 1 issues the Read Track Information command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. Receiving the Read Track Information command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 calculates a writable logical address following a track number specified based on the command, and replies the host apparatus. The host apparatus 1 acquires a recordable address (Next Writable Address) of the invisible track as a command reply value.
5. The host apparatus 1 outputs a video object file data of a first title to the optical disc recording apparatus 2 by using the Write (10) command. Receiving the Write (10) command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the data for the number of write sectors from a record start logical address in the optical disc medium 3 based on the command. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the record status control data in a RAM using a semiconductor memory, and the record status control data is updated for every command.
6. The host apparatus 1 issues the Synchronize Cache command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2, to end the recording operation of the first title. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records an un-outputted record data remained in a write buffer memory therein to the optical disc medium 3. The record status control data stored in the RAM in the above step 5 is updated, and the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the record status control data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
7. The host apparatus 1 outputs the video title data backup file data to the optical disc recording apparatus 2 by using the Write (10) command. Receiving the Write (10) command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the data for the number of the write sectors from the record start logical address in the optical disc medium 3. Moreover, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 stores the record status control data in the RAM.
8. The host apparatus 1 issues the Synchronize Cache command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the un-outputted record data remained in the write buffer memory in the devices in the optical disc medium 3. The record status control data stored in the RAM in the mentioned step 7 is updated, and the host apparatus 1 records the data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
9. The host apparatus 1 issues the Close Track command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 carries out n end process of the invisible track. In order to set the following recordable area, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 generates a new invisible track following the invisible track to which the end process is carried out. Moreover, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 updates the record status control data for the invisible track after the end process and the invisible track newly generated, and then records the data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
10. The host apparatus 1 issues the Read Track Information command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 calculates a writable logical address following the track number specified based on an argument of the Read Track In formation command, and replies it to the host apparatus 1. The host apparatus 1 acquires the writable address following the track reserved in the above step 3 as a command replay value.
11. The host apparatus 1 issues the Write (10) command and sends the video title data file data to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. Receiving the Write (10) command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the video title data file data for the number of the write sectors from the record start logical address in the optical disc medium 3 in response to the command, and stores the record status control data in the RAM.
12. The host apparatus 1 issues the Synchronize Cache command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the un-outputted record data remained in the buffer memory to the optical disc medium 3. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 updates the record status control data stored in the RAM in the above step 11, and records the record status control data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
13. In order to close the second track, the host apparatus 1 issues the Close Track command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 carries out the end process of the second track, and updates the record status control data, and records the record status control data in the control data record area in the optical disc medium 3.
14. The host apparatus 1 issues the Read Track Information command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 calculates a writable logical address following the track number given based on an argument of the Read Track In formation command, and replies it to the host apparatus 1. The host apparatus 1 acquires the writable address following the track reserved in the above step 2 as a command replay value.
15. The host apparatus 1 issues the Write (10) command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2 in order to write a file system data and a video manager file group. Receiving the Write (10) command, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the data for the number of the write sectors from the record start logical address in the optical disc medium 3 according to the command. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the record status control data in the RAM.
16. The host apparatus 1 issues the Synchronize Cache command to the optical disc recording apparatus. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the un-outputted record data remained in the buffer memory to the optical disc medium 3. The record status control data stored in the RAM in the above step 15 is updated, and the optical disc recording apparatus 2 records the record status control data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
17. The host apparatus 1 issues the Close Track command to the optical disc recording apparatus in order to close the first track. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 carries out an end process of the first track, and then, updates and records the record status control data in the control data record area of the optical disc medium 3.
18. The host apparatus 1 issues the Close Track command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2 in order to close the optical disc medium 3. The optical disc recording apparatus 2 carries out a disc close process that is referred to as a finalizing process of the optical disc medium 3. That is, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 adds the lead-in area and the lead-out area to the optical disc medium 3 so that the write-once optical disc 3 can be treated equally to the DVD-ROM.
As mentioned above, the optical disc recording apparatus 2 updates the record status control data for the record management of the optical disc medium 3 when a track is newly reserved by using the Reserve Track command and the series of the recording processes are ended by using the Synchronize Cache and the Close Track command. In addition, when the Write (10) command is issued plural times, the record status control data of optical disc medium 3 is sometimes update in every predetermined number of issuance of the command or every predetermined number of record sectors. In the example of FIG. 2, the record status control data of the optical disc medium 3 is updated in the steps 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 and 17.
In this way, in the conventional optical disc media 3 such as the DVD-R medium, the control data record area 130 for the record management is arranged in the fixed size on the system area that the host apparatus 1 cannot directly access. The record status control data is updated every constant data size when the host apparatus 1 issues the write command consecutively. Also, the record status control data is updated when the host apparatus 1 issues the synchronize cache command to the optical disc recording apparatus 2 or the track close command is ended. Therefore, if small size data are repeatedly recorded, the control data record area 130 is assumed in a short time. Therefore, when the control data record area 130 for the record status control data has entirely used although the data area 138 has a free area, an additional recording operation cannot be carried out to the optical disc medium 3.
Especially, the write-once optical disc using a blue laser has a storage capacity several times or more times as large as the conventional DVD-R medium. Therefore, when the size of data to be recorded is the same as the conventional size of data, there is a possibility that the record status control data overflows from the control data record area in the system area.
In conjunction with the above description, a method of recording information to a write once type information recording medium is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 6-338139). In this conventional example, the information recording medium has an information record area to record information, a replace information record area used when the record of the information is failed and the information is re-written, and a management information record area to record data for managing a rewrite history. When an unused area is below a predetermined quantity in a record area for a purpose, at least a part of an unused area of a record area for another purpose is allocated as an extension area of the record area for the above purpose.
Also, an optical disc medium is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2004-39186A). In this conventional example, a data record area is defined based on a predetermined standard. An extension area is further provided in an inner area from the data record area.